Posted on 11/02/2008 11:35:05 AM PST by Grig
NOBODY knows quite how the contagion that broke out in Wall Street will affect the rest of America, nor how deep or how long the likely recession will be. What is certain is that some places will suffer more than others. So far Utah, a state best-known for Mormonism and pretty rocks, is looking unusually healthy. “We’ve got a lot to be proud of,” says Jon Huntsman, the governor. “Certainly more than many of our neighbours.”
Indeed, Utah has more to be proud of than any other state in the West. In September its unemployment rate was just 3.5%—less than half of California’s and the second-lowest rate in the region after oil- and gas-rich Wyoming. Last month the Milken Institute declared Provo, a sprawling settlement south of Salt Lake City, America’s best-performing city for technology output and job and wage growth. Salt Lake City itself came third.
Hardly a month goes by without Utah announcing a corporate relocation or a new factory. The state has experienced a minor semiconductor boom in part because of its cheap, coal-fired power. Ogden, until recently a decaying railway town north of Salt Lake City, has quietly become the world centre of winter sports equipment. Mike Dowse, who oversees brands such as Atomic and Salomon for Amer Sports, gives three reasons: “the mountains, the mayor and the money”.
The mountains are the Rockies, which lure young workers who like to go skiing. The mayor is Matthew Godfrey, a business-minded man who has aggressively recruited several companies to Ogden (Mr Huntsman, a former chemicals executive, likes to work the phones, too). The money, which comes partly from the city and partly from the state, is a mixture of relocation grants and tax breaks tied to the creation of well-paying jobs.
Utah’s housing market is relatively healthy, largely because it did not heat up too much in the middle of this decade. In August its foreclosure rate was lower than the national average. Nevada, Utah’s neighbour to the west, had America’s highest rate of foreclosure filings, according to Realtytrac. California had the second-highest rate and Arizona the third. Colorado’s front range, which includes Denver, is also littered with abandoned houses. Such areas have suffered from sharply falling property prices, reduced consumer spending and job losses among construction workers.
Another, hidden, source of strength is Utah’s strange demography. Mormons tend to start families young: the average Utah woman marries at just 22. That means the “echo boom”—the peak of childbearing by baby boomers—took place not around 1990, as in the rest of America, but ten years earlier. One reason unemployment is rising across the West is that a wave of teenagers is crashing onto the job market. Utah, by contrast, has few teenagers and lots of productive people in their late twenties and early thirties. “The timing is pretty good for a recession,” says Pam Perlich of the University of Utah.
The “cultural thing”, as businessmen from out of state delicately refer to Mormonism, helps in other ways. Utah’s almost universal conservatism makes for stable, consensual politics. It took the state legislature just two days last month to plug a $272m hole in the budget. By contrast, California’s budget was 85 days late. Nevada’s politicians are preparing for a nasty fiscal fight next year.
Mormons do not come to work nursing hangovers, and they are inclined to stay put in the promised land rather than pursue better-paying jobs elsewhere. Matthew Donthnier, who is hiring for a new Procter & Gamble plant, has only one complaint about the local workforce: it can be a little difficult to persuade people to toil on Sundays.
AYN RAND, Atlas Shrugged
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I find it sadly ironic that Rand saw these principles so clearly in the economic world, but that she herself unfocused her mind and refused to see to escape the responsibility of judgement from God.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged"
At least it appears that she thought about it.
“Utah is America’s future.”
Not if Obama is elected and gets a Dem super majority. He won’t tolerate them any more than he did Joe the Plumber.
Gee I wonder if these statistics take into account the dozens (at least) of little towns scattered across Utah where One man rules as a king, there is no real economy apart from HIS feudal system, and no statistics are shared with the ‘outside’?
There are some real estate developers in Utah who might disagree with the rosy assessment.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I still think Mitt would be a good President. I work with a moderate lifetime Dem lady who hates Obama. She said she would love to see Mitt run in 2012. She likes Sarah but is not crazy about her. She really likes Mitt as I do. She hated Rudy and now she really likes him after his speech at the convention.
The only theocracy in fact, if not in name, in the US is not a really good plan for the future.
Utah will probably go for McCain, but obama will hit Utahans real bad with his taxes.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
And a strictly oligarchic theocracy to boot.
I just moved my family to Utah. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I work in downtown Salt Lake City, so I do get to see the bluer side of Utah. Unfortunately, that blue is spreading in Utah as people who don't share the majority's values keep coming to take advantage of what those values have built in the state. And the sad thing is those people are the biggest whiners and complainers about the values here.
If states like Connecticut and Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and Maryland had held fast to their religious foundations, the country would not be in the mess it is today.
I do not believe that Utah would be a better state if it suddenly it became as secular as Connecticut or Massachusetts or Pennsylvania or Maryland.
We rank right up there.....
Baloney. Name at least a dozen of those fictional small towns you've imagined or admit to your falsehood.
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